As companies strive to create more immersive experiences within the emerging serious games space, a new report points out that an Ontario university professor has helped create a new game designed to help educate students about the works of legendary bard William Shakespeare.
Canadian broadcaster CTV
reports that University of Guelph English professor Dan Fischlin has teamed with Guelph, Ontario based independent game developer
Apollo Games to develop the new serious game
'Speare in hopes that the game will get students interested in Shakespeare's life and works. The game is targeted towards players between the ages of 10 and 15 years old.
According to the report, the game cost approximately $50,000 to develop, and will be offered to schools for use in their classrooms. "It's the first attempt to do this with Shakespeare but also with thinking about literacy as something you can do in a game context," commented Fischlin.
In the game, players “must save the planet from evil ships that have captured the ancient text of Romeo and Juliet,” and must, over the course of the game, answer questions about Shakespeare's literature. According to Apollo Games,
‘Speare integrates video game technology and educational elements in order to create “an addictive online game that is both fun and informative.”
Early indicators are that the game could have a substantial impact of student's ability to comprehend and retain information about Shakespeare. Fischlin noted that after playing the game for an hour, student's literacy scores increased by a dramatic 72 percent.
